(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called for maximum “self-restraint” in the Middle East in an unusually candid joint statement Wednesday to save the region “from the dangers of war and its dire consequences.”
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The comments came after a phone call between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as tensions escalated following Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel on Saturday evening.
Israel is considering a response to what was the first attack on the Jewish state from Iranian territory. Tehran said it was retaliating for an Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Damascus earlier this month that killed some of its top commanders there.
The two leaders of the Arab Gulf states discussed developments in the Middle East and the dangerous implications for security and stability, the UAE state news agency WAM reported. The call was initiated by the UAE leader, Saudi state news agency SPA said.
The UAE maintains formal diplomatic ties with Israel, while Saudi Arabia has been in US-backed talks on normalizing ties, although these have been complicated by the war in Gaza.
The US, Western allies and Arab states have urged Israel to refrain from a response that would plunge the region into full-blown conflict. The Saudi crown prince also received a call from Qatar’s ruler and discussed the military escalation.
Rising tension between Iran and Israel has put the entire region on edge, and Gulf leaders could see this as a moment to put aside differences and confront common threats and challenges. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have clashed in the past over a number of issues, including how to deal with Iran, ending the decade-long war in Yemen and economic and political leadership in the region.
Both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh ended a three-year boycott of Qatar in January 2021, imposed largely because of Doha’s role in supporting Islamist movements that toppled several Arab governments during the so-called Arab Spring uprisings of the previous decade.
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are currently particularly concerned about the situation in Jordan. The government there says it is caught between an Israeli government it has described as a threat to regional peace and forces in Iran and neighboring countries linked to Tehran, who are determined to exploit the ongoing war in Gaza to further their to expand influence and reach, including in Jordan itself.
Amman has been shocked by a series of developments in recent weeks. On Sunday, Iranian state media accused the country of helping Israel by shooting down some of the missiles and drones launched by Tehran against the Jewish state. Jordan responded that it had to act because its territory was threatened and demanded that Iran stop the insults.
Months of protests outside the Israeli embassy in Amman have become increasingly militant and pro-Hamas in recent weeks. And after Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leader vowed to flood Jordan with weapons and march on Israel.
These threats led to calls from the Saudi Crown Prince and UAE leader for Jordan’s King Abdullah II to reaffirm their commitment to Jordan’s defense and security.
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are linked to Jordan by family and tribal ties, see the country as crucial to their own national security and as part of their geostrategic depth. Jordan borders northwestern Saudi Arabia, where Prince Mohammed has launched some of his most ambitious and costly projects linked to his Vision 2030 economic diversification plan. While both have restored diplomatic ties with Iran, they remain extremely wary of Tehran and its activities in the region.
A report earlier this month from the Riyadh-based International Institute for Iranian Studies said Iran was “seeking a foothold in Jordan” to “completely encircle Israel” and undermine “regional actors” such as Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
–With help from Mike Cohen.
(Updates with context, concerns about situation in Jordan begin in seventh paragraph)
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